bean counters and coffee breaks

When Trisha returned to work after an absence of eight years raising children she could not believe how toxic the workplace had become during that time. She was expected to work for five hours without a break and to drink water at her desk rather than enjoy a coffee break.

"Sometime during those eight years the traditional mid-morning and mid-afternoon tea or coffee break disappeared off the map of the workplace," says Trisha. "Just like that."

"How did it happen? Who was responsible for breaking this tradition?"

Trisha doesn't know the whole story - she doubts if anyone does - but she imagines that in some lavishly furnished office somewhere in the world the bean counters and the management consultants got together to devise yet another way to cut costs and maximize their profits.

Some management guru with a camel-like liquid storage capacity suggested that if he could get by without morning and afternoon refreshment then so could staff. The ten minutes staff waste filling themselves with tea and coffee each morning and afternoon could be better spent being productive.

There were excited murmurs in the room. This could work!

Spreadsheets were drawn up and massive projections were made to see how many billions of dollars companies could save if this simple cost-effective measure were promulgated. Finally, much to the camel's delight, his suggestion was accepted. They patted him on his hump - oops, back - gave him a check for a million dollars and off he padded to the nearest bar to get tanked.

The idea spread like wildfire throughout the world. The office tea and coffee bar area no longer served as a meeting place where workers would congregate to chat, refreshing themselves with mid-morning and mid-afternoon tea or coffee. That wonderful workplace camaraderie that once happened, quite naturally, twice a day, when everyone downed tools and tuned-out for ten minutes, together, was gone forever.

Trisha notices that the facilities remain, but now they are merely places where weak-willed workers sneak into very furtively to indulge in a quick and lonely caffeine fix on their way to or from a toilet break.

"You see," explains Trisha, "it was not just that management deplored staff wasting their time having liquid refreshment when they could quite easily survive for 5 hours without it - and keep on working - but they also deplored caffeine addiction in their workers."

Any addiction - except work addiction - was seen as a sign of a weak character. First they got rid of the nicotine addicts, now they were getting rid of the caffeine addicts.

Every office had its stoics - those who could survive for 5 hours without liquid refreshment, just like a camel - but Trisha and the other weak willed workers were shamed into storing bottles of water under their desks in order to survive the drought. And, for those, like Trisha, who had a caffeine addiction in addition to being poorly endowed in the liquid storage capacity area, clever ploys had to be devised in order to get a fix at work.

The well-organized caffeine addicts brought flasks of the addictive liquids, ready made from home; but Trisha made use of the hot water facilities at work to concoct her brew and take it back to her desk, being very careful to avoid the glare of the stoics as she snuck past them.

How anyone can hate the aroma of coffee or deplore those who have a caffeine addiction is beyond Trisha’s comprehension, but maybe the stoics with camel-like liquid storage capacities are a breed apart from the rest of us.

"In fact," says Trisha, "some stoics are super-stoic in that they can work through lunchtime, too - and can stay later than anybody else at the office - and they make an incredible impression on management which, of course, is their intention."

Anyway, for someone of Trisha’s vintage who can remember the good old days prior to the 1990s when a ten minute break in the morning and the afternoon was set aside for staff to stop work and congregate for some social banter - maybe duck out to buy a cappuccino and have a quick smoke - the demise of the tea or coffee break has been heart-breaking.

With more and more Baby Boomers opting out of this miserable existence - either to retire early or start their own businesses - the functional, soul-less corporate workplaces will be left entirely to the stoics who will, no doubt, gladly accept the next lame-brained penny-pinching suggestion at a think-tank of bean counters and management consultants.

"Let's see," ponders Trisha, "a shark-like type who never sleeps might suggest a 24-hour working day. After all, if he can do it, so can staff!"

"When pushed just a little bit over some magical line," says Trisha, "the stoics might finally wake up to the fact that they are human, too, and then it will be Revenge of the Stoics! There will be a stoic revolution far worse than any revolution in history and the heads rolling this time around will not be that of royalty but of corporate chairpersons, bean counters and management consultants."

Trisha is sad for herself but mostly for her adult children and as yet unborn grandchildren who will never know the pleasure of a good old-fashioned morning and afternoon tea or coffee break exactly as she knew it. Her children can’t believe that workplaces were once so easy going, but then Trisha remembers her own mother telling her about tea ladies.

In the 1950s, when Trisha’s mother worked in a typing pool, the tea or coffee break was such a sacred occasion that companies actually hired tea ladies to serve the girls tea and cookies at their desks. Imagine that!

"These days, of course," laughs Trisha, "they would be called Tea-Persons, but that’s another story."

job competing with daughter

Ingrid, 45, is a single mom with four children who gets by doing temp work. She would love to have a proper job and depairs that her age forces her to compete for jobs with her daughter and girls young enough to be her daughter.

"I really despair of ever reaching the interview stage with any of my job applications," sighs Ingrid. "Sometimes I wonder why I bother, but while there's life there's hope I suppose."

Ingrid has a professionally presented resume and writes fantastic covering letters, but she just cannot score an interview for the type of job she wants.

"My eldest daughter actually applied for one of the dream jobs I applied for, and got it," laughs Ingrid. "That was sufficient evidence for me to accept that it's not my education, experience, location or just too many applicants applying for the same job - it was my age that had disqualified me."

Up until then, Ingrid had considered all the other factors and reasonably expected at least 10 resume rejections before scoring her first interview.

"After 120 resume rejections," says Ingrid, "I've reached that stage where I accept I'm on the wrong track altogether."

Ingrid is now assessing herself and the type of job she's been applying for.

"The right job for me may not be the job I want," explains Ingrid. "Like most things in life, jobs are a two-way street and if the job I want doesn't want me, then I need to move on, change tack."

Ingrid accepts that the type of job she wants has a preferred age range of 21-35. It is never stated in the advertisement, though. For women under 21 it is simply a matter of time before they qualify for these jobs, but for women over 35, like Ingrid, rejection on account of age may not be discrimination, per se, but simply a fact of the job being better suited for a younger person.

A company may want someone without too much experience so that person can adapt easily to the particular management style of the organization.

The job Ingrid's daughter got hired for involves working alongside people under 21. Ingrid would have been out of place in that job. She would not have fitted in.

"Having once worked at a place where I was older than everyone around me, including my boss," laughs Ingrid, "I do appreciate that this is not a good situation for all concerned."

"I came along ten years after my sisters and brothers," explains Ingrid, "so I know what it is like to feel out of place. I was one of those 'accidental' babies and I grew up knowing that I was not planned like my sisters and brothers were."

"My childhood experiences have left me feeling very sensitive about 'belonging' and 'not belonging' and it's just as bad being the oldest person in a job as the youngest person in a family."

Demographers say that the Baby Boom generation (born 1946 to 1955) is the largest age group in the workforce, but from what Ingrid can see it is the children of the Baby Boomers that are not only most predominant, but also most favored in the workplace.

"And that," concedes Ingrid, "is perfectly normal and natural and right and proper."

There is no way Ingrid can overcome her age, and she says there is no reason why she should.

"I wear my age with pride," laughs Ingrid. "But I accept that I do need to come to terms with the fact that the type of job I've been applying for and rejected for is not right for me."

What other alternatives are there?

"Many people change career direction in mid-life," says Ingrid, "and I may decide to enter a new career field - a field in which age is no barrier; or I may start considering self-employment. What? I don't know. But I'm told that there are many opportunities out there."

She is aware that some jobs actually favor mature women. A recent advertisement for a prison guard gained her attention. Her children were horrified that their mother would consider such a job, but if that is the only thing available for mature women then Ingrid is willing to consider it.

"At least I would be working with mature women like myself and I wouldn't feel out of place," explains Ingrid. "But I guess I would feel out of place in a prison!"

What Ingrid will not consider is a new career field that requires qualifications additional to the ones she already has.

"Bearing in mind the intense competition for jobs," says Ingrid, "I have no intention of re-training or joining the thousands of hopefuls trying to gain the highest educational qualifications possible."

"I don't believe that qualifications necessarily guarantee anybody a job," says Ingrid. "My daughter got the job I wanted and she's just left school!"

Ingrid could never be rejected on account of her experience. She has tons of it and in a wide variety of industries, too.

"I was very surprised when my daughter gained the job I wanted," says Ingrid, "because employers generally prefer someone with at least two years of experience in the field, or a related field. Josie had no experience whatsoever so it must have been her youth and looks that got her the job. I'm happy for her, but it's a slap in the face for me nevertheless."

"It just goes to show," says Ingrid, "that no matter what employers state in ads or tell you what they want - they choose candidates primarily on age, and to hell with the rest."

As far as location is concerned, Ingrid lives in a big city and has no transport problems. She is prepared to look further away for a job, but doesn't see why she should have to.

"I live where the jobs are," says Ingrid, "but nobody wants to employ me."

"In the old days when parents were too old to work the children kept them," laughs Ingrid. "I don't see my daughter showing any signs of wanting to keep me now that she's got the job I applied for - even though I would have been keeping her had I won it!"

"It's strange how society changes values in one respect but not in another, isn't it?"

anyone for lunch?

Renata is 44, divorced with three young teenagers living at home, and she was delighted to win a job that paid almost twice her old salary. There was, however, a hidden catch that Renata hit head on with the sort of style that often separates the winners from the losers in the workplace.

"Since becoming a single parent nine years ago I've had to do some awful jobs for miserable pay so it was about time I started earning what I was worth," says Renata, "but I was absolutely shocked out of my brain on the first day at the new job when nobody took a lunch break and frowned at me when I got up to leave!"

Apparently, nobody had warned Renata that her new job involved working through the lunch break.

"The boss would send out for sandwiches, at company expense, and everyone grabbed a plate and went back to work at their desks," explains Renata. "I didn't see any chains around their ankles or necks but there may as well have been."

"I was pleased to be earning a good salary," says Renata, "but I had no idea that no lunch break was the price I had to pay for it."

The lunch break, for Renata -- and most people -- is not so much about eating but getting a break, getting some fresh air and sunshine, and getting some exercise. It is also about removing ourselves from a work environment in order to have a proper break. Sometimes it is about removing ourselves from co-workers in order to spend time with people we do not work with. And for busy single working mothers like Renata it is often about doing some shopping to enable an immediate return home at the end of the workday.

Renata has found, through trial and error over the years, that a one-hour lunch break is ideal for her.

"Including the time it takes to get out of the building, and how far I need to travel to get to the shops," explains Renata, "half an hour was really not enough time to refresh myself, grab something to eat and do some shopping."

Without a proper lunch break, Renata was a wreck by the end of the first day at her new job.

After being denied what she considered her right to a lunch break, Renata just took an hour off for lunch the next day and her employer had to like it or lump it.

"When you've been on your own raising a family as long as I have," says Renata, "you get to a stage where you've got a bit of money saved, your kids aren't so demanding, your self-esteem has picked up and you're no longer capable of putting up with the sort of stuff you had to put up with when all the chips were down."

"There were really heavy frowns at first," says Renata, "and then just about everyone but the brown-nosers followed suit. I started a revolution!"

"If my employer had dared to maintain that I had no right to take a lunch break or tried to cut my salary," explains Renata, "then I was prepared to seek legal advice immediately."

As Renata pointed out, we are living in the 21st century not the Dark Ages.

"Forced labor and slavery are crimes against humanity," asserts Renata, "and if employees don’t assert their rights then employers will try to get away with as much as they can."

Renata was lucky in that most of her co-workers agreed with what she was doing.

"Had I been the only employee taking a proper lunch break, I might have found myself out of a job," says Renata.

"I know that kids and immigrants are often subjected to illegal or immoral work practices when they take on a job," laughs Renata, "but I had no idea that some employers try cute tricks on regular workers. This experience has been a real eye opener for me."

"I can’t believe that before I started the new job absolutely nobody had dared complain about being deprived of a lunch break," sighs Renata. "It just goes to show how timid some people are and how one person can make a difference. I’m glad that one person was me."

"Yes," agrees Renata, "my relationship with management remains a bit icy. The big boss is probably mad as hell at me and may be hatching up some plot to get even with me, but I’m doing what I consider to be right not just for myself but for everybody here."

"I work really hard, I'm good at what I do and now that my kids are older and capable of taking care of themseves I don't mind staying back a bit," says Renata, "but I won't work through lunch -- not for a million bucks -- and if my employer can't appreciate that fact then he's a fool."

"He's no fool so I'm not really worried about losing my job," adds Renata, "but you can never tell about these things. He should be smart enough to see that everyone is happier -- and more productive -- now that they get a proper lunch break and he should be thanking me not snarling at me!"

"Like I said before, I was totally incapable of asserting myself when I was newly separated with little kids to support," says Renata, "so if you're a single mom stuck in a lousy job don't feel bad about not being able to change things. Believe me, you'll grow stronger with every day spent in adversity and the day will come when you can tell a lousy boss to stick his job."

surviving the work late culture

Jane is a single working mother who is experiencing a great deal of stress and anguish being expected to work after hours, but she survives with the help of a loving and dedicated mom.

"I don’t get paid for this extra work," says Jane. "Everybody works back late without extra pay where I work - and there is no special consideration for working mothers like me."

The working late culture is a problem that particularly affects working mothers, but just about anyone with a life outside of work is upset by the increasing trend among employers to hire less staff and make them work back late, without extra pay, in order to do the work of two people.

"I'm 37 and old enough to remember a 9-5 working day, when offices closed at 5pm and people had real lives," sighs Jane.

"I'm really grappling with this problem," sighs Jane. "I will never accept that work was ever meant to consume more than 8 hours of our day."

"I was told that if working mothers want to work then they should get it very clear from the start that working late is normal these days and if you don’t become a workaholic then you won’t have a job."

"Terms of employment might state 9 to 5", says Jane, "but if you walk out the door at 5pm you will probably be the only person doing so as well as the first person on the chopping block when the company restructures."

As Groucho Marx quipped: "No man goes before his time - unless the boss leaves early."

Jane adds that few bosses leave early these days!

"Some workplaces do allow flexible working hours - with a core period between which one must be present - but generally companies do not take into account either our personal needs or our time clocks," says Jane.

"Businesses, of course, are not in business to suit the personal needs and time-clocks of staff and there is plenty of evidence to support the view that expecting staff to conform to the working late culture is an exercise of power that has very little to do with productivity."

"If businesses really wanted to prosper," says Jane, "then they might consider the benefits of giving their staff adequate time off to relax and recharge their batteries."

"There are very few people who can work for more than an 8-hour day without making mistakes and becoming irritable and unproductive," says Jane.

"You would have to be doing something you really loved - and would do for free - in order to maintain that length of productivity without fatigue."

Jane’s work, like most people’s, is not something she loves and would do for free.

"Fatigue is a real problem for me," says Jane, "but luckily I have a mother who lives close and takes care of my children while I am at work. Without her support I would not be able to survive. She is far more valuable to me than a husband would be because she doesn't work and she puts my interests before her own. How many men would do that?"

"I don’t have to worry about keeping a babysitter waiting - but nevertheless my children do suffer from being picked up at their grandmother’s house at all hours of the night - and my mother isn’t too happy about the way I am spending so much time at work."

"Sure, I’m turning into a workaholic and becoming prone to heart disease," says Jane, "but what else can I do? I need this job and I've got to do whatever it takes to survive in it."

Jane says that it is ironic that workers worldwide in the 19th and 20th centuries fought a long and hard battle to earn the right to an 8-hour day, and now it is almost heretic to demand such a right.

"I've considered doing part-time work - or even changing my occupation to one with hours and conditions that suit my needs - but I really need the money of a full-time job."

"There are, of course, still lots of employers out there who are sympathetic to the personal needs of staff," says Jane, "but expecting to leave at 5pm in any workplace is just not done these days - no matter what the work contract says - so I'm not risking changing my job."

"There are plenty of people out there desperate for work," says Jane, "and even if an employer is sympathetic to the personal needs of staff, it is the people who do not expect to leave early who will get the perks and promotions, not those who leave early."

"Very few people are indispensable these days," sighs Jane. "And I believe that workaholism has more to do with fear of losing out on perks and promotions - and jobs - than some innate brain wiring problem. It's a disease that's acquired by the working late culture."

"When more and more employers are requiring longer working hours, shorter breaks and keeping workers in a state of fear - not knowing whether their jobs are going to last out the month let alone the year - is it any wonder that so many of us are developing workaholic tendencies?"